The Journey of a Beginning Farmer :: As a child I spent most of my life in town living with my mom, but whenever I visited my Dad and his side of the family it was on the farm. From my earliest memories I have always wanted to be a farmer (except when I wanted to be a cowboy). Now, I am trying to fulfill that dream. This will be a journal of that journey :: my research, my joys, my frustrations, and all of the things that go along with the beginning farmer.

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Crazy Ideas :: The Perfect Processor/Butcher

I know that Joel Salatin bought one ... I know that Walter Jeffries is building one ... and I know that I would love to have my hands in one somehow. I mean don't you ever just get those crazy little ideas in the back of your head? You know ... ideas like making a career change or I don't know ... starting a farm! Well, I get crazy ideas in my mind all the time if you haven't noticed already! My latest crazy idea involves having my hand in the meat I produce from the very beginning until the very end.

Now I'm not trying to disparage my current processor or any other processor for that matter, but there is something appealing to me about having as much control over my final product as I can. I would say that on my ideal farm I would have as much control as possible raising the animals from beginning to end, producing all of my feed and forage, processing and curing the meats, and of course marketing the bounty of the farm!

It's not that I'm trying to create my own little bubble world, but rather that I would love to be able to have the control and ability to try as many different things as possible (different cuts, seasonings, cures, etc.). There are just certain things that a locker that is trying to cater to as many different types of customers as possible can't do. But, boy would it be cool!

So, what do you think? Are you in favor of small scale meat processors or cooperatively owned small scale meat processors? Do you think the are feasible (maybe Mr. Jeffries can chime in on this one)?

5 comments:

Suzanne
said...

We have thought the same thing! In 3 weeks we will celebrate our 2yr. anniversary of farming. :) We are still working on the barns, fencing, breeding stock, etc. This year we were able to put up our own pork, lamb, and chicken and our beef came from a farm friend. It is a slow process, but we would eventually like to do everything from beginning to end just as you said, not because our slaughter house isn't awesome (because they are!) but because it is important to us to do it ourselves. This is a very rural area, with a lot of small farmers like us. We have thought about building a small licensed facility here for our own use and renting it to farmers who want to process their own meats. But the expense and legal aspects are scary! It's a day dream right now, but maybe some day!

As we try to establish our own farm in central NC, we are also running into the same issues. While it would be great to have access to meat processing on site, I am not sure it would be ideal. However, small cooperative facilities would be a wonderful alternative. Somewhere that is supported or even owned by a community of farmers would be great. I have seen several of these pop up, so hopefully they are becoming more popular. Have a good one.

I grew up watching my grandfather and father run the Milo locker, so I have a limited knowledge of small scale processing. Eventually what made the business fail is the freezers and all the repair and equipment that went along with it. Cutting and curing your own meat is an awesome idea, just make sure you have somewhere reliable to put it all. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the inspectors. They were a huge annoyance. It seemed to me as a kid that they were just there to make $ off my dad and get him 1 step closer to shutting down the business due to continual "necessary" repairs.....Ryan

We've had significant challenges with getting cuts as ordered and issues such as package weights that should be 1# coming in 20% higher and lower, meaning I then have to sell by weight and not by package. Specific cutting instructions not being followed because the kill room didn't mark the animals to match the instructions per animal. Makes me want to be more directly inolved too.

Portable processing trailers are going to be the best thing to happen to small farmers in along time. Her in central Illinois a group of like minded farmers will be building a combo poutry processing building complete with year round farmers market, retail store and rooms for educational events. Whose funding it ? Several well of chefs in Chicago who want good meat. We won't have absolute control over our end produce sent there but knowing half the people who will work there helps solidify trust